Kansas

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Kansas is a state in the Mid West of the United States.

Law

As of 2010 the "Standard Traffic Ordinances for Kansas Cities" prepared and published in book form by the Kansas League of Municipalities declares hitchhiking illegal in all cities which adopt it's code. Not all cities upload their code to municode.com and not all municipal courts and police offices are willing to assist in making the information public over the phone, but Johnson county as well as the cities of Manhattan, Topeka, Lawrence, Emporia, El Dorado, Salina, Fort Scott, Leavenworth and Hutchinson have adopted the code. To be safe, try to hitchhike outside of the city limits of major towns in the state of Kansas. The exact wording of KS STO 69(a) is as follows:

Sec. 69. Pedestrians Soliciting Rides or Business.

(a) No person shall stand upon or along a street or highway for the purpose of soliciting a ride.

This overrides the K.S.A. statute that allows you to hitchhike on the shoulder or berm which claims that "no person shall stand on a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride..." Basically the new KS STO code as of 2010 makes it illegal to hitchhike anywhere near a road even if you are not on the paved portion designed for the ordinary flow of traffic. Wichita has not adopted the KS STO 69(a) statute but has adopted the following statute instead:

Sec. 11.44.050. - Soliciting rides, business or contributions prohibited—Exceptions.

(a)No person shall stand in or in proximity to a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver or occupant of any vehicle.

As of March 2012, Wyandotte County Unified Government is the only municipal body of any sizeable population in the state of Kansas that has been confirmed to not have adopted the KS STO or a similar statute prohibiting hitchhiking anywhere near a road. This means that it should be legal to hitchhike in Wyandotte County. However when outside the limits of a city/municipal body and off the interstate and paved portion of any road or on the shoulder of said road, it is never illegal to hitchhike in the state of Kansas. Do not let the police bully you and try to tell you otherwise.

Getting Through

There is a cluster of truck stops along the road to Colorado, however it is advisable to catch a ride going all thorough the State until Limon in Colorado. In Kansas itself, there are two big rest-truck stops which are actual point of interest. Those consists of before Lawrence on I70 and before Topeka also on I70.

If you are at the cluster of truck stops in KCMO you have about 2 options. First is take bus rides through the city to Lawrence which is an hour west of KC now this is not the easiest task I wouldn't recommend this option but it can be done. First go hitch to KC so you can get a bus. These truck stops are like 10 minutes from where you can get a bus from give or take but make sure the people who bring you bring you to an exit close enough where the buses run regularly (waffle house near these truckstops is a good place to catch a ride possibly talk to waitresses oh and ask about the waffle house). -> Confused '

Experiences

I lived in Kansas for a long time and have hitched through countless times. The cops will frequently try to lie to me about it being illegal to hitchhike in the entire state. I typically tell them I am going to continue hitchhiking and I know what the law says. This has lead to me being arrested once even when I was not in breach of the law, although he let me go within minutes after talking to his supervisor and suddenly became a nice guy when I insisted on taking him to court ;]. As for rides, getting them can be difficult anywhere outside of I-70. I have waited over 6 hours on multiple occasions. When possible stay on interstate 70 and try to catch a ride all the way through the state. - Thewindandrain 0:42:21, 6 March 2012 (CET)
I'm not from Kansas, but can say my hitchhiking experience there was horrible to say the least. I was dropped of at a convenience store near Abilene on I-70. It took me 4 days to catch a ride out, hitchhiking 10+ hours each day. Ran out of food, out of money, and nobody cared to help. It was a stoner from Colorado who accidentally took the offramp who finally picked my up. Had that guy not been smoking too much weed while driving, he never would have taken that offramp and I'd probably still be there. Zero Stars. Would not reccomend.:

Jsplts 17:29:34 9 May 2023

Cities

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